A special court in Kottayam on Thursday sentenced two senior students of a nursing school to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for the gang rape of their junior on the pretext of ragging at the college in Kottayam in 2005. Another accused,also a student,was sentenced to three years imprisonment,while the court acquitted six others.

According to the prosecution,the 17-year-old nursing student of the School of Medical Education (SME) was subjected to ragging before being sexually assaulted by six third-year students in the colleges laboratory on October 21,2005. Renjith Varghese and S Sherin were the first and the second accused,respectively,who were slapped with 10 years RI and fines of Rs 10,000 each. The third accused,Shefique Yusuf,has to pay a fine of Rs 5,000. The first three accused were charged with procuring a minor girl for sex (IPC 366),wrongful confinement (IPC 342),outraging the modesty of a woman (section 354) and gang rape under section 376-2(g). Besides,section 4 of the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act was also invoked against the accused. Students Ashly Varghese,Robin Paul and Divine Philip were acquitted.

The prosecution had also arraigned SME principal K M Mariam,its director Dr K N Muralidharan Nair and Dr Zybuneesa Beevi,the psychiatry professor at Kottayam Medical College,on charges of attempting to cover up the incident and tamper with the evidence.